and it turns out that you were drinking starbucks as a surprise to him greedier. welcome back so far we've been counting down the most ridiculous moments of this election but let's not forget that there are a lot more goes into the political races than the candidates themselves there are the personalities that you've been that help you sense the data the make sense of the data the policies in the back stories but the media is also prone to error whether it's laziness misconstruing the facts or simply a fear of alternative perspectives the mainstream media has kept us interchange but

not necessarily informed here now is our number one most ridiculous moment of this election. according to the pew research center's project for excellence in journalism before the first presidential debate president obama had the edge in terms of favorable media coverage twenty two percent of the coverage he got was positive fifty one percent mixed twenty seven percent negative but after the first debate the numbers essentially flipped with governor romney getting twenty percent positive stories fifty percent mixed and thirty percent unfavorable so the mainstream media treated both candidates equally you would agree that the press ought to be fair so are they yes. so i know what you're thinking why is this the most ridiculous moment given all the political gaffes that have happened over this campaign season well it's speaks a bigger narrative about the state of the dews media in the country you see fox

news failed to mention in that clip that was just played that it played a major role in that poll in terms of obama bashing and romney boosting by excluding themselves from the clip fox news exemplified how subjective the media has become these days so here's a look at the pew poll that fox news was reporting about only this time let's include fox as you can see i think that graph speaks for itself. now the role of the media in this election is giving americans the information that they mean to make an informed vote they are doing that though instead what we're seeing is beltway centric a self-indulgent punditry so why is that money the fact of the matter is that news is a business and the election is the super bowl of stories the media wants ratings so they cover it like a sporting event and why do they want ratings because they want money advertising money that is thanks to the supreme court citizens united decision campaigns are

spending more money than ever on this election particularly on campaign ads and that money flow doesn't stop there it goes into the pockets of media moguls that's why they oftentimes resort to fluff rather than substance because they don't want to offend the candidate supporters who are handing over big advertising dollars to pay for their own so we're experiencing the death of the fourth estate and if so where were the public turn for their daily dose of news joining us now to discuss the role of media in elections is laurie harshness video journalist and on the street a border for archie in new york city lori welcome thanks for having me hey laurie let's start out you know of course of the residents you're famous for going on the streets of new york city and talking to people and kind of getting the political pulse of the nation so first off i want to ask you given all the negative campaign ads given all of the way the way that the media has covered this what is the sense that you're getting from the people in the streets that you're talking to. well you know the news likes to look at what they're going to put out they want to find the

lowest common denominator they're going to speak to what they think is the typical stupid american walking around and we all have a lot of fun with that but the truth of the matter is most people would like some more information most people are sick of the polarization and they're sick of being talked down to and they're looking for information from the media and they're just not getting it and personally i don't have any problem with the media presenting facts and having a bias because they're people were people right everyone is the person everyone's going to have a bias you're telling a story through your own lens what i'm sick of is the media pretending to be unbiased it's time to get rid of that that's a pretty kind of new notion that occurred in the early part of the one nine hundred seven merica all of a sudden we have to be unbiased internet isn't just the facts and clearly we're not doing that so let's just do away with that notion let's say who are supporting and then present facts actual facts for why and i think people on the street are

looking for that and there's just nowhere to be found in the media unfortunately well i mean i think the question is are they really looking for the if you look at media organizations that do report just the facts they tend not to get the ratings and it seems like people are flocking to where the sensationalism is so i just the question is are we getting the media we deserve. i think it's a little bit of both you know the funny thing is that the media usually determines what we're going to talk about around the water cooler the next day but with the advent of social media you see twitter and facebook determining what the media is going to be talking about we saw that with big bird and we saw that with. full of women you know it twitter immediately jumped on that and that's all the media was talking about the next day so in some respects yes we get what we deserve but in other respects there's a lot of intelligent people out there that are looking for substance and it would be great it would behoove the media to speak to those people and to speak to that side of the same people who say we all look at the class we all look at the cats

and we you know talk and all the stupid stuff that's out there but we're also interested in the real information say i mean people are more than this one dimensional clicks you know advertise a scorecard and it would do us all well if we talked about the facts more often. that well said we are for this i think you're right people people do want a better media and you know hopefully they start turning the channel to those better media when they get the chancellor harkness thank you so much thanks for having me now for more on how the mainstream media failed americans over the course of this election cycle which we're going to put a communications professional in a former president of media matters and welcome the show thank you guys for having me all right eric let's start off by talking about this media bias we just talked a little bit with laurie about it but what we are seeing is the fact that it might be that there's too much information there's too many things happening right now in this country that the media can't fact checked all of them but we're also seeing is

that they're just not doing it at all many would argue so what is the case or what is the motivation is it money is it is it is it the fact that there's just too much information what is it it's a confluence of all of those things building upon each other and increasing exponentially even bigger problem you know years and years. you know ninety six ronald reagan you know appeal the fairness doctrine and essentially declared news for profit which ultimately most famously has given rise to the fox news empire which i think you know you have said many times it doesn't even really resemble the music organization so much as the political operation unfortunately you know i think other major media relations are following suit because there is the pressure of the almighty dollars just like anyone who runs a business they have to have an audience they have to cater to that audience so so so so often far far too often especially in this election we are seeing reporting

that is really the a thinly disguised agit prop and propaganda designed to reach a certain audience not designed to do it journals are supposed to do which is to call balls and strikes that tell the actual truth and i think yeah i think that's the key i think i think of edward r. murrow when he was going up against mccarthy and if you were to decide to just devoted a show to having someone who supports mccarthy and someone is against him let them both debate it out and be like ok now you guys decide you know that's that's fair that's balanced but ultimately people just get these two talking heads they have nothing but instead he decided to go after and report the facts be a journalist about it and he took them down yes there doesn't there doesn't seem to be any journalists around willing to do that well you know it's funny it's what a colleague of mine and i were just talking about is the whisper cation of the media and he really is a great example you know some of that i certainly hold no ill will toward chuck todd of assembly c. very well respected very well whites most importantly just two weeks ago when you

know when romney was running this demonstrably improve we fall says ad in ohio about jeep exporting the production of jeep products to china we're feeling to call it a lie that it's not journalism and so we're seeing it creep from the from fox and from the denizens of the right wing all the way across the spectrum and it's having enough. that's everywhere what is the solution truly to your point it's going to take you know we're not going back is going to veto the return of the fairness doctrine it's going to require dog independent journalists to just ferret out the truth through the strength of their own ambition and their will to do so but i'll tell you something it's really incredible not only the only people not even agree on on what a fact is anymore on facebook or in the media but even in the presidential debates i have never in my life before seen a candidate for the presidency states fact check his opponent inside of the

depressin szell debate multiple times and there are fact checks that occur most certainly but they've almost kind of become. almost a force of themselves i mean you know you have some ahead of you in fact checks and everybody dispatch i suppose everybody is that and then you have you know you're on c.n.n. folks fact checking your facts there are fact checking but we don't have this truth telling we don't have people standing up and standing but you know on the facts on solid reporting so that americans can actually have a foundation for a conversation one conversation so that we can actually make a decision and the very one more point the person is that we have you know it least in this in this election the one candidate mitt romney who has a serial problem with the truth say what you want republican democrat conservative liberal nobody knows what this guy will do or could do as president of states that is an absolute causal failure of the media and part of it might be because so much information is coming out with the candidates one day they're saying one thing

another day in another state they're saying another thing but i point that i do want to bring up is that ninety nine percent of american televisions have received network. cable in their house and so what we've seen what we're talking about is these of media ratings i mean m.s.m. b.c.'s all the strongest ratings in october they were up one hundred. ten percent in total viewers this fox news was off that was up to eighty six percent c.n.n. was up that is up sixty four percent so we're not seeing these people that are asking these questions why are people watching it ben well because people are watching it because they're they're actually professionals that are there they're figuring out what people want to hear so we're no longer challenging people with it with the opinions of others or facts that that may be inconvenient to their world view we are now in an era where we are feeding. americans exactly what they already believe and i would say i think there's a huge difference between we see in the us and be seen and what you get on the

right with fox news but we have this n.b.c. is doing there's no question there is a pain there is opinion journalism it's not traditional journalism and there's room for both but there's got to be there has to be that journalism and it's done and we're going to pay a price and i think we're seeing the price and the rancorous tone of the selection you have to wonder if a lot of these things would be possible romney lying if there was no fox news or anything like that right there bernas thank you so much for going on. what we have an election up to this is election coverage shows so let's take a look at the electoral map. mitt romney has now won west virginia and he's won south carolina. electoral count now stands at thirty three for mitt romney three for president obama that's no big surprise all these states are expected to go the way they're going and that's going to do it for our end of election night coverage going to take a quick news head and then coming back at eight o'clock tom hartman christine for

zell we'll pick up where we left off thank you so much for watching you. here is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that the americans call. the guy who cares and. you know what's. going on with the feature stories a little bit. silly. are going to distract us from what you and i should care about because there are profit driven industry that sells a sensationalistic garbage he calls it breaking news i'm not me martin and we're

going to break this that it's. sick. welcome to the capital account i'm lauren lyster. what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to break through it's already been made can you trust no one. with the global machine

where we had a state controlled capital score. when nobody dares to us we do our question more. it's a lection day november sixth seven forty five on the east coast that means polls have closed in vermont virginia south carolina georgia florida you're watching are to use live election coverage i'm liz wall. when it comes to domestic issues in this election each candidate waited until the very ad literally just a couple weeks ago to lay out what he plans to do so let's take a look at look back on what each candidate said their presidency would look like first up president obama or to correspondent christine for his outtakes look at his plans and some of the most important issues he hopes to work on if he gets

a second term. you know profit and production are private and government led us into lockdown you know whatever direction our government land of oil is down despite all the infighting i guess just about nine percent it's just not for the zingers you mention the navy for example that we have fewer ships than we did in one nine hundred sixty well governor we also have fewer horses and bayonets as present your title as a present your own airplane and your own house but not your own facts and the gaffs . so and i went to a number of women's groups and said can you help us find folks and they brought us whole binders full of women both candidates actually agree on quite a bit including what the central issue of this election of the first must be i just want to say a few words about the economy and to get this economy going again grow the economy faster america needs a president who can fix the economy but what does that really mean in his recently released plan for the next four years president obama says he'll focus on growing

small businesses improving the quality of education and cutting oil imports to expand domestic energy his first term focused on clean energy but produced one of the biggest failures after investing five hundred thirty five million dollars straight from the pockets of taxpayers the california solar company cylindrica went bankrupt perhaps the centerpiece of obama's first term the bitter fight to pass health care reform. by god. that died however the fight for a change in the health care system and build a new political group opposed to government overreach in light of the growing deficit the tea party i want barack obama and harry reid and nancy will see that i'm not i'm giving them my hearing aid today. they're not listening to us tea party or not health care often simply called obamacare passed.

phase vote answers the prayers of every american who has hoped deeply for something to be done about a health care system that works for insurance companies but not for ordinary people later up held by the u.s. supreme court the president's affordable care act remains a contentious but important domestic issue while obamacare has overshadowed most other obama accomplishments during his time in the oval office the president recently laid out his plans for a second term on education president obama outlined a plan that includes tax credits for middle class families paying college tuition recruiting and training one hundred thousand math and science teachers and developing programs between business and community colleges to train two million workers for those new jobs so will the president get the opportunity to enact these changes we could know the answer to that in a matter of hours four years ago the election was largely about changing direction

and it was also about health care and immigration and in particular the war in iraq the central question this time around will the president be able to make a strong enough case that the economy is in fact improving that owning a home and having a job and a little extra money to spend will be in most americans future in washington christine for his out our team. oh was a long and bitter primary race before mayor brown he officially became the republican presidential nominee and with the economy poised to be the number one issue this election romney set out to portray himself as the solution to get america's finances back on track i think a look now at governor romney is the message policy yes he is a businessman with his eye on the oval office when it comes to our economy here at home i know what it takes to create twelve million new jobs and rising take home pay the former bain capital c.e.o. in massachusetts governor isn't shy about touting his success in the private sector

i was in the world of business for twenty five years he didn't balance your budget he wanted a business he says it's his business experience that separates him from the incumbent president and what the country needs to get the economy back on track business and growing jobs is about taking risks sometimes failing sometimes succeeding but always striving it's about dreams romney sees cutting taxes as a way to help boost the economy both for individuals and corporations his tax plan make permanent across the board twenty percent cuts eliminate taxes for taxpayers that make below two hundred thousand dollars and cut taxes from thirty five to twenty five percent one of the first things he vows to do as president repeal obamacare is the program so critical it's worth borrowing money from china to pay for it if not i'll get rid of it obamacare is on my list i apologize mr president i use that term it's with all respect despite his fight against obamacare some say it

bears a striking resemblance to romney care which you know acted well governor of massachusetts as i understand the plan is that every individual has to have to buy health insurance if their company doesn't provide it and if they're too poor the state will give it to them or will help them buy it correct. that's a pretty fair statement when it comes to the budget he's backed his running mate paul ryan's plan dubbed the path to prosperity this is why we're acting this is why we're this is why we're proposing passing the house budget. fix this problem it's a plan that critics say benefits the wealthy while making cuts to programs that would help the poor but one area he won't cut defense in fact he suggested expanding defense spending and i will not cut our military budget by a trillion dollars which is a combination of the budget cuts the president has as well as a sequester ation cuts that in my view is because it is making our future less

certain and less secure on energy romney says he wants america to be independent and bring that pipeline in from canada and by the way i like coal i'm going to make sure we can get to burn clean coal people in the coal industry feel like it's getting crushed by your policies i want to get america and north america energy independent with an estimated net worth of over two hundred fifty million dollars he would be one of the wealthiest people to hold office because of this was critics say he's just out of touch with the average american and his gaffes on the campaign trail they are harder for him to shake that image corporations are people my friend we can raise taxes that of course they are rick i'll tell you what. ten thousand bucks i drive a mustang and a chevy pickup truck and drives a couple of cadillacs actually before it's over so you are. really there. but it's this very success that he believes qualifies him to take president obama's

spot in the white house in america we celebrate success we don't apologize for success. but that unemployment rate hovering around eight percent the economy is supposed to be at the top issue this election and romney has placed the blame on obama for the painfully slow walk. recovery but obama says it's republican policies that led to the economic crisis with the same policies that romney is now advocating just a few hours it will be up to voters to decide who is right in washington liz wall. and joining me now to discuss the madness campaign two thousand and twelve our correspondent honest. from our new york studio hi there honest. so i know that you have covered the massive amount of campaign spending throughout the election a lot of it going toward television ads can you talk more about campaigning frenzy that led up to today. that's right basically what we've been witnessing is t.v.

companies really selling a new kind of product this election season the next u.s. president in what's already been the most expensive u.s. election campaign in u.s. history but we've also been seeing a record high political ad bonanza from the numbers that we have compared to the last two presidential elections the political ad spending numbers have gone up by our skyrocketing forty four percent and most certainly it's the americans in the swing states that have been completely drowned by this political ads and what's important to say is that of course the overwhelming majority of these ads has been negative and there are very little requirements in terms of the truth that they're supposed to provide to the viewers so as long as it's not outright libel basically the candidates could have been and have been putting on air whatever they want to try to get their attention from the voters and of course one important thing to keep in mind here is that this is the first presidential election after the

citizens united ruling in twenty ten that completely changed the landscape of the u.s. election process in terms of corporations but becoming even closer to politics and to power because after two thousand and ten they're now able to make a limit of donations without disclosure and basically sleeping even closer with the politicians being elected and basically with the goal of these numbers hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into these political ads and into these t.v. companies broadcasting the ads there are several problems that arise one is that the americans watching the news are receiving the news from companies that are getting the money directly from candidates and their supporters which is a thing to think about of itself secondly of course investigative journalists and experts who have worked on this issue and tried to track the money down say it's almost impossible to do and even though there are certain snippets of numbers information here and there it's impossible to have the general picture of exactly how much money was spent and last but not. of course the third party candidates are

being completely shut off from the mainstream media because they don't have that kind of money so they don't end up on the air speaking of the third party candidates on a stasia we just did a profile of president obama and mitt romney's domestic policy and over a new york in the tri state area you know new jersey and connecticut it's pretty certain that the vote will go to the democrats and i'm wondering at because of this is there a sense that their vote there doesn't count and you know and beyond that discourage people from voting third party you know liz it's very curious because it does not only discourage people who want to vote third party from going to the polls today but also some of the people in general because they say what's the point we know obama is going to be a winning in new york anyway in the tri state area as you say so definitely this is a big concern some of the people we've spoken to today have said yes we would you know go and vote for third party candidates because this is new york city and

because of this strange really system that exists in the united states the electoral college it really for a lot of people we've spoken to not everybody is certainly but for a lot of people this has been a major concern that they don't feel like their vote really counts because no matter what happens it's the electoral college system. really interesting appreciate you staying on top of everything over there and we will be checking back with you throughout the night as the results come in and to find out what the sentiment is on the ground over there in new york city that was our t. correspondent on a stasia turkana. and that all is going to do it for now but for more on the stories we covered you can head on over to our you tube channel that address is it you tube dot com slash artsy america we post all of our coverage and dollar stories right there in full you can also head on over to our web site that's r t dot com slash usa and you can also follow me on twitter at liz wall stick around with our

t.v. for more election coverage that is coming up next it will be check in with check in back with you throughout the night. i will fight all the natural i also promise that i follow every single day on earth . to kill. my own.

here's mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that we americans call a dollar. i'm sorry i'm just a guy who cares enough. to use our own our schools. my terrorist cells in your neighborhood no one in the usa to defeat terrorism a liberal that chris. can secure building out of the. criticism for going to distract us from what you and i should care about because there are profit driven industry that sells a sensationalistic garbage he calls it breaking news i mean martin and we're going to break that.